A Knight Returns
by alchemyfreak42
Summary: Ever since the Wall fell, Shion's been dealing with assassination attempts. When Nezumi returns, he can't help trying to surprise him. Now it's actually the story I meant to post the first time.
**No. 6 is not, in fact, mine. Only this story, alas, is mine! Enough with the drama, you may read.**

 **For the record, the first time I posted this, I accidentally clicked the wrong link and posted an FMA fanfic instead. Sorry, guys!**

Shion stepped into his room wearily, not bothering with the light before shucking off his jacket and peeling his tie from his neck. It had been an irritatingly long day of arguing with bureaucrats, organizing reconstruction, and _who was in his room?_

His movements didn't change, remaining cool and weary as he unbuttoned his shirt. As long as the attacker though Shion was ignorant, Shion had the upper hand. The soft footsteps sounded just as Shion was slipping his shirt off.

He slipped forward, pivoting as the intruder's hands slipped harmlessly across his chest and some part of him bothered to wonder at an unarmed assassin. The rest of him simply focused on his attackers movements. When the dark figure did not immediately attack, Shion did.

It was as though his attacker could feel every movement before he made it, slipping casually aside from his blows and smirking the entire time. And then Shion was face-down on the floor, one arm twisted painfully and the assassin's weight heavy above him.

"I'm impressed." The assassin's breath was hot against his neck and Shion growled dangerously.

"What did you expect?" He spat. "I hope you didn't think you're the first person to make an attempt on my life." There was a sharp intake of breath above him and the grip on his wrists loosened just a hair. Shion smirked- it was enough.

Shion slipped away, throwing the taller man off as a startled "What?" echoed through the room, even as Shion again took the offensive, punching the assassin again and again.

"Shion, wait!"

His fist froze a hair's breadth away from making contact.

"Explain." Shion's voice was cold, hard, and angry. "Who are you and why are you in my home? I suggest you make it good, because I don't appreciate strangers entering my house."

"Strangers?" The dark figure's voice laughed. "You've forgotten me already, Airhead? I'm hurt." Shion's eyes widened and he couldn't keep his jaw from dropping open.

"Nezumi?" He asked, astonished. "Is it really you?"

"In the flesh." A flash of teeth showed in the dark.

"How long have you been here?" Shion asked curiously. "The alarm should have gone off when you entered."

"About an hour," Nezumi said. "You left the window open."

"I what?" Shion asked, immediately stiffening. "The window was unlocked?" He whispered, waiting for Nezumi's nod of confirmation before he cursed softly. He started to turn, then froze with a small sound, his eyes wide as he collapsed forward into Nezumi's arms. The rat looked up in time to see a dark figure already slipping out the window.

Nezumi cursed as he held Shion upright, his breaths coming in pained gasps. "Lay me down," Shion instructed, groaning softly. "Put pressure on it…police should…be on the way."

Nezumi nodded firmly, obeying Shion's instructions and wincing at the man's groan of pain. He grabbed Shion's discarded shirt and pressing it firmly against the wound. Moments later, footsteps pounded up the stairs and the door was sent flying open.

"Freeze!" Two policemen stood in the doorway, their guns trained on Nezumi. "Put your hands in the air and move away from the Chairman!"

"Moron!" Nezumi spat. "If I did that, he'd bleed out before help could get here! Hurry up and call an ambulance already! The bastard who did this slipped out the window, I suggest you follow him quickly if you want to get him at all."

One of the policemen had begun giving directions into his mouthpiece before Nezumi had even started speaking, while the other kept his gun firmly trained on Nezumi. "Who are you?" The second one asked.

"Nezumi," Shion mumbled weakly, "Nezumi, don't…leave me."

Nezumi leaned forward, his gaze softening. "Don't worry, Airhead. I'm not going anywhere."

Nobody moved, and it seemed like an age later that the medics arrived, gently pushing Nezumi out of the way in order to get to Shion. He rose to follow, freezing when several guns cocked and more policemen appeared in the door.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we'll need you to come with us." The same policeman from before was speaking, his body tight with tension.

"Why?" Nezumi asked icily. "You saw me save his life. You know I could have offed him at any point there."

"Because while it is unlikely, it is possible that you heard us coming and decided to make it look as though you were not the attacker."

"And when Shion told me not to leave?" Nezumi countered. "What do you think of that?"

"He could have been hallucinating of someone else. Blood loss can do that. When the Chairman recovers enough to confirm that you did not attack him, but until that time, we will need to keep you under guard."

"I am not Shion's enemy," Nezumi growled angrily.

"Then come peacefully," The policeman said.

"Ha!" Nezumi snorted. "You must be insane if you think I'll willingly let you bastards take me to a correctional facility!"

All of the police blinked several times, and one laughed.

"Have you been living under a rock?" Another asked incredulously. "There haven't been any correctional facilities since the Wall came down! We use rehabilitation centers to teach criminals and drug addicts useful skills and help them reintegrate with society!"

"What the hell?" Nezumi asked.

Another policeman laughed. "You really _have_ been living under a rock, haven't you? The Chairman got rid of the Correctional Facilities _years_ ago."

The man who'd initially been speaking with Nezumi grinned. "Well, how about we take you to the hospital instead? If you really are his friend, you'll get to see him after he wakes up and can tell us what happened. We don't need to have a gunfight over a misunderstanding." He put his gun away, then glanced back at Nezumi. "We'll still be keeping you under guard, though."

Nezumi nodded hesitantly, and they began negotiating terms.

Shion groaned, the fiery pain in his back pulling him slowly back to consciousness.

"You're awake."

Shion's head snapped to the side, his eyes shining hopefully, only for disappointment to set in as he stared at the police chief.

A dream, then.

"How bad was it this time?" Shion asked wearily.

The chief's eyebrows rose, but he pursed his lips for a moment before answering. "It could have been worse," he said, "but you lost quite a bit of blood."

"I expected as much," Shion said with a nod. "Do you have any leads?"

"We've got one man in custody at the moment, though he insists he's innocent. It took quite a bit of effort to get him in, though. Would you like to talk to him?" The chief asked.

"You know me well," Shion grinned. "What do you know about him?"

"Not much. He wasn't wearing any identification, but he had to come from out of town."

"Out of town?" Shion asked in doubtfully. "Why would any of the other cities want to kill me? And how do you know?"

The policeman shrugged. "They may think you'll upset their systems, or somebody could have simply hired him from there." He grinned at the next part. "And he's _definitely_ from out of town. Didn't even know we don't use correctional facilities anymore."

"Really?" Shion asked. "I thought even the other cities had that on the news for a while. Bring him here, would you?"

"Way ahead of you, sir," The chief said. He stepped into the hall, returning a moment later with another offcer and the potential assassin.

"Hello, Shion," The suspect said.

Shion stared for a long moment, then turned to look at the police chief. "Tell me," he said slowly, "How much blood did I lose, again?"

"What, not even a hello?" Nezumi asked. "I'm hurt, your highness."

"No you aren't," Shion said automatically. "I'm the one sitting in a hospital bed, aren't I?"

Guilt flickered across Nezumi's face and he nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah," he said softly. "Sorry I wasn't able to help you."

Shion frowned in confusion. "But you were, weren't you?" He asked. "Unless I was hallucinating from blood loss."

"Excuse me, sir," the police chief interrupted politely, "Then this is not, in fact, the person who stabbed you?"

Shion blinked as he remembered the presence of the officers. "What? No, Nezumi would never do something like that." He paused to consider this. "Well, maybe he would have once, but that was years ago. Would you let us talk in private for a few minutes?"

The police chief stared at Shion in disbelief, wondering if he'd even heard himself just then, while Nezumi shook his head, laughing softly.

"Oh, come on," Nezumi said with a grin, "It's not _my_ fault I was a fugitive." The chief of police began coughing, his eyes wide.

"That's true," Shion said, nodding thoughtfully. "They _had_ shot you, after all. It only makes sense that you would react that way."

"Exactly!" Nezumi declared. "It's perfectly reasonable to expect me to have tried to kill you, right?" His smile only widened as the police chief coughed harder, the other officers in the room looking surreptitiously toward their guns.

"Right," Shion agreed, apparently oblivious to the policmen's reactions. "And I can't help but be glad you bombed that car I was in, too. That was one of the best things you've ever done for me."

Nezumi was shaking with laughter by now, the officers staring at him in horror. "Aside from performing an unauthorized surgery on you, right?" He asked, tears coming to his eyes as he struggled to control his laughter.

"Yeah," Shion agreed. "If you hadn't done that- I don't even want to _think_ about what would have happened." He shuddered.

"Chairman," The police chief said weakly. "Are you telling me that this man tried to kill you, bombed the car you were in, and then performed an unauthorized surgery on you?"

"Mm-hmm," Shion nodded. Astonishment, horror, and amusement flashed across his face as he realized why the police all looked so horrified. He looked accusingly over at Nezumi, who was doubled over by now. "Nezumi," Shion said sweetly.

"Yes?" Nezumi laughed.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"You're as bad with words as ever, Highness," Nezumi laughed. "It's not my fault I was short on ways to save your life, and _you're_ the one who told them most of that."

Shion sighed in exasperation, then looked apologetically to the police chief, a smile playing around his lips. "It's all right, really. It sounds strange, but Nezumi really wouldn't hurt me, even if it doesn't sound that way."

The man hesitated. "Are you sure?" He asked eventually. Shion nodded kindly, and the police filed out of the room. "We'll be right outside, sir. Just call us if he tries anything." With that, he left the two alone.

Neither said anything for a long minute before Nezumi broke the silence.

"Does this happen often?" He asked softly.

Shion shrugged. "Every now and then, not as often as it used to be. There are still a lot of people who are angry about the destruction of the old system, especially the people who were well off or high in the government. I've been lucky so far."

"If this is lucky, then what the hell is unlucky?" Nezumi scowled.

"Unlucky is dead," Shion said evenly. "Unlucky is my family being targeted, hurt, or killed. Unlucky is when innocent people die so somebody can make a point or get revenge. Unlucky is losing you." He held Nezumi's eyes evenly.

Nezumi stared at Shion for a long moment before shaking his head in frustration. "Idiot," he sighed. "I guess I'll just have to stick around then, won't I?" He continued as Shion grinned slowly. "I mean, you clearly can't take care of yourself, so _somebody_ needs to do it for you." Nezumi nodded firmly as he finished speaking.

"And how long will you be the one to do it?" Shion asked cautiously, worry shining in his red eyes.

Nezumi's chest grew tight at Shion's voice and the thought of leaving again, only for Shion to get hurt once more, or even killed. His throat tightened, then a mischievous sparkle appeared in his eyes.

"So long as there is breath in my lungs and life in my limbs, this humble servant shall serve his king," Nezumi declared dramatically, sweeping into an elegant bow before sinking to one knee, his head lowered as though in reverence.

Shion smiled broadly at Nezumi's theatrics before answering. "Then rise, good knight, and remain by my side," He ordered imperiously.

"As you wish, your Majesty."


End file.
